First Lego Scooby-Doo DVD release. Ties in with Lego Minifigures play sets. New additions to the vast Scooby-Doo franchise.

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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that Lego Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood is the first DVD teaming the popular building toy with the classic Hanna-Barbera characters. Some of the familiar characters are voiced by regular Scooby-Doo voice actors, while others are new to this Lego release, but all retain the bright, upbeat qualities of the originals. It's set in an old film studio famous for its monster movies, with some suspense and mild action. The villains and monsters are less scary than the usual series evildoers given the constraints of Lego building-brick construction. Still there are zombies, mummies, and even a glowing headless horseman to threaten the heroes and give them a mystery to solve. Following the 2015 release of Lego Minifigure Scooby-Doo play sets, it's a cross-promotion effort expected to enhance sales. OK for all but the youngest kids who are not yet comfortable with cartoon violence.

What's the story?

The gang is excited when Shaggy and Scooby win a hamburger-eating contest in LEGO SCOOBY-DOO! HAUNTED HOLLYWOOD. First prize is an all-expenses paid trip to Hollywood, where they'll tour Brickton Studios, famous for some of filmdom's greatest classic monster movies. What awaits them, however, is a studio that has fallen on hard times; Chet Brickton, its movie mogul owner, is being forced to sell. The studio appears to be haunted by the monster creations of a deceased movie star, and Brickton's effort to release romantic comedies is going nowhere. Shaggy (Matthew Lillard), Velma (Kate Micucci), Daphne (Grey Griffin), Fred, and Scooby (Frank Welker) are quickly caught up in the "creative process" -- Fred is even slated to direct! Daphne, totally starstruck, will play a role! Unfortunately, the hauntings accelerate, and the date upon which Brickton will sign away his business to an eager developer is fast approaching. The Mystery, Inc. team finds itself with an unexpected mystery to solve, even while they're on vacation. Can they get to the bottom of the supernatural chaos in Hollywood in time to save Chet Brickton's studio?

Is it any good?

It must be difficult to retain the camaraderie and silly tone of the Scooby-Doo clan using hard-edged Lego bricks, and these filmmakers have not quite mastered it. The story, generic and predictable though it is, works well enough. But there's something off about this effort, particularly the creation of the "monsters." Ghosts and otherworldly beings in the franchise cartoons have a larger-than-life, shadowy, and fluid feel to them; these little boxy monsters are simply small molded toys. And, of course, expressiveness and emotions are hard to draw on plastic, so the well-loved characters lose something in the translation. Still, fans (and their families who don't mind a continuing onslaught of new toys and DVDs to buy in ever-changing incarnations) may enjoy the usual antics of Scooby and company, even in this latest "acrylonitrile butadiene styrene" form. Not very scary, so OK for most kids.

It's fun to watch movies about movie-making, especially about monsters. With which classic legends of the past are you familiar (Dracula, Frankenstein, and so on)? Why do they still engage audiences generation after generation? Can you create (draw and/or write about) such a creature? How would you make it scary?

Think about the Lego-bricks format versus the usual Scooby-Doo cartoons. Did the new structure change characters' attitudes? Their appeal? Their individual traits? If you have a preference for one or the other, what is it you like or dislike?

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